The Blue Valley Northwest football team fell to 0-2 on the season with a 35-14 loss at Mill Valley High School on Friday Sept. 8.

For much of Friday night’s game it was the Huskies inability to convert key third and fourth down opportunities to move the chains that led to short fields and scoring drives for the Jaguars offense.

Head coach Clint Rider said the failure to execute play calls and simple tasks resulted in a game score that was not close to what he would have expected.

“Third and fourth down we did not finish,” Rider said. “Either we didn’t get the right call, we didn’t run the right play, or it’s 3rd and 15 and we give up a first down.”

The execution of the offensive unit early in their series was successful in Rider’s eyes, but paled in comparison to the third and fourth down results.

“First and second down I felt like we were pretty good all night,” Rider said. “It’s just those third and fourth down situations where we get inside the 20 and we’ve gotta finish, and we just didn’t finish well.”

For the second consecutive week, the BVNW offense turned the ball over a staggering four times, with three lost fumbles and an interception on the night. The Huskies would end up losing the turnover battle 4-3 as junior Luke Vega was able to intercept two Mill Valley passes, and the defense forced a fumble that went out of the endzone for a touchback.

Anchoring the defense was senior Kordell Simmons who returned to the lineup for the first time in the 2017 season. Throughout the night, Simmons was around the ball making tackles for the Huskies defense, as well as showing off his elusiveness with a 68 yard punt return in the fourth quarter in which he escaped multiple MVHS would-be tacklers.

“He did some good things,” Rider said about the senior defender. “He had that really good return, he had a couple of really good hits, and he’s gotta get his legs back under him.”

The Huskies were successful in getting the ball to senior Jackson Heath who proved to be a vital part of the offense. Heath was able to haul in a 80 yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter from senior quarterback Payton Hartman in a game in which he had just under 200 receiving yards.

As a whole, Heath said the offensive unit had “too many miscues” and needs to play more consistent to see success.

“We looked good at times, but we had a lot of offensive errors [and] mental errors that could have been fixed,” Heath said.

Hartman finished his night 21/39 with 365 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception for the night.

Next week, the Huskies look for their first win of the season as they play the Jaguars of Blue Valley West (0-2) at the DAC at 8:15 p.m.